General Cycling Discussion - Riding and headaches.

Do you ride if you have a headache before hand? Or does it depend on how bad your headache is and what kind of headache you have?

For me if I have a sinus headache which in the spring and summer is caused by allergy problems, & only if I forget to take my Claritin D24, I do not ride, or rather I can not ride. When I get a allergy induced sinus headache they border on being debilitating. And the most any pain reliever does is dull the pain. And when that happens, yes I take the Claritin D24 but often it is to late for it to take affect right away so I suffer through it.

Now if it is a tension headache I take something like Tylenol for the pain and go ride. Usually the combination of the 2 gets rid of the headache.

There have been times when I have gotten a headache while riding. 9 times out of 10 it is caused by my helmet being maladjusted. A simple adjustment and the headache usually goes away within minutes, no pain reliever needed.

How about everyone else? If you get headaches for what ever reason how do you deal with it?

For me it's sinus related and I get sinutab or sudafed
onboard early enought then yes I will ride.
I've had migraines before and if I feel like thats whats
coming on, no way. The increased blood flow really jacks
up the pain level. At that point in time I just slink off into
a dark room and search out serious meds.

Marty

headaches are funny. i find that a lot of times physical activity will cure mine. the hard part is geting myself to go ride when i'm in a lot of pain.

If you are getting headaches while riding, talk to your doctor! I had a sister-in-law who kept getting headaches whenever she exercised, then she suddenly dropped dead of a brain aneurism (sp?) at age 46.

Originally posted by shaharidan headaches are funny. i find that a lot of times physical activity will cure mine. the hard part is geting myself to go ride when i'm in a lot of pain.

Ditto.

Exercise releases endorphins - the body's natural painkillers - into the bloodstream. Riding cures my headaches pretty regularly, especially my stress-induced headaches.

I rarely get headaches, I have to say. Only when it's that time of the month, or during extreme stress, very loud noise. Once I was on medication that gave me headaches as a side effect. However ,I do get headaches when I go for a ride and the sun glares into my face the whole way! Sometimes I kind of like it when it's kind of overcast or hazy, no direct glare right in my face!

I get headaches from extreme heat, which east Texas is prone to have this time of year. For that reason, I swim more than ride during the hottest part of the summer. I also get headaches from lack of sleep and when I cry a lot.

Calcium is good for headaches, and massaging the pressure points on my fingers sometime gets rid of my headache.

Originally posted by MsVicki
I also get headaches from lack of sleep and when I cry a lot.

Been getting a lot of headaches lately, Vicki?



Calcium is good for headaches, and massaging the pressure points on my fingers sometime gets rid of my headache.

Calcium is also good for keeping stress to a minimum. Sounds like you should up the calcium if you can't kick the stress out of your life.

Originally posted by wabbit
I rarely get headaches, I have to say. Only when it's that time of the month, or during extreme stress, very loud noise. Once I was on medication that gave me headaches as a side effect. However ,I do get headaches when I go for a ride and the sun glares into my face the whole way! Sometimes I kind of like it when it's kind of overcast or hazy, no direct glare right in my face!

Me too... headaches that is.
But, if and when I do, sometimes just the pump I get from getting the gear together, i.e. helmet, shoes, HRM, sunglasses, pumping up the tire, etc.etc. my headache might go away and if it doesn't I start off with a nice mellow roll down the road. By the middle of the ride I'm feeling good.
My preference though is to have sex. Almost guaranteed to get rid of a headache.
I try to never take anything for a headache. It will go away, one way or another.

I actually look upon riding as a cure for headaches. I'm actually more likely to ride if I have a headache because it's about the only thing that's effective in getting rid of them.

Headache beforehand? No way am I going to ride. It only makes it worse to the point of wanting like Lotek to crawl into a cool, dark, quiet place. Weird, but even after a bad headache goes away, I'm exhausted.

Also similar to Ms. Vicki, if I overdo it in the heat, I'll get a headache. Staying hydrated and slowing the pace a bit helps tremendously.

Originally posted by Dave Stohler
If you are getting headaches while riding, talk to your doctor! I had a sister-in-law who kept getting headaches whenever she exercised, then she suddenly dropped dead of a brain aneurism (sp?) at age 46.

I am sorry to hear about your sister-in-law.
I recently had heat stroke but when I was taken to the ER, they immediately questioned the possibilty of a brain aneurysm as I had splitting headache in one very specific area. It was the worst headache I had ever had in my life. They ended up doing a CT scan to rule it out and even with that, have not been able to tell me whether I have one or not.

I am not sure if I understood completely what they were saying as I was pretty sick at the time but apparantly there are exertional type aneurysms.

I would get any headache that comes with exercising checked out immediately.

Justen